Buehrle, White Sox stymie Zito, Giants

Mark Buehrle hurled 6 2/3 solid innings as the White Sox held on
for their fourth straight win and seventh in their last 10
games with a 3-1 interleague victory over the San Francisco
Giants on Saturday.

It is getting to the point where every time Giants starter Barry
Zito takes the mound, he struggles with his command. He
labored through five innings, throwing 116 pitches, allowing
eight hits, two runs, a season-high six walks and four
strikeouts.

"I want to go out and be aggressive and compete," Zito said.
"It's not going to benefit me thinking about the past. What
will benefit me is to ask myself what can I do today to get
better?"

He did manage to work out of a jam every inning as the White Sox
left 11 runners on base in the first five frames.

But Zito (0-8), who last season signed a seven-year, $126
million deal, still is in search of his first win this season.

"For me, I want to give the team a chance to win, compete and be
aggressive," Zito said. "My last three starts, I'm not
satisfied with the results. They're losses (actually, one
no-decision). But I think they're steps in the right direction
and I'm feeling better every day."

He remained winless with a 6.25 ERA and is 11-21 with the
Giants.

"He pitched himself in some jams," Giants manager Bruce Bochy
said. "He didn't cave in. That's a gutsy outing if you look at
it. He did a great job of keeping us in that game. We just
have to start putting some runs on the board. His last three
starts we just haven't scored a lot for him."

The White Sox scored single runs in the first and second
innings.

Orlando Cabrera led off the game with a single to left, Pablo
Ozuna singled to put runners at the corners and Carlos Quentin
drove in Ozuna with a sacrifice fly to right.

In the second, Alexei Ramirez and Toby Hall led off with base
hits. Buehrle (2-5) sacrificed to move the runners to second
and third, and Cabrera's sacrifice fly to center increased the
lead to 2-0.

The Giants could not mount any real threat against Buehrle until
the fifth inning. Jose Castillo led off the frame with a
double to left and advanced to third on a ground out by Daniel
Ortmeier.

Pinch hitter Eugenio Velez looked overmatched at the plate but
managed to ground to short on a 0-2 count to bring home
Castillo.

The White Sox got their two run cushion back in the sixth thanks
to Jermaine Dye, who singled to center with two outs. He
advanced to second on an errant pickoff throw by reliever
Keiichi Yabu and scored on a single to right center by Paul
Konerko.

"No matter how we win the game we just want to do whatever we
can to help our pitchers and we got a couple of runs early," Dye
said. "And then Buehrle went out and did his thing. He got
ground balls, got double plays, and the bullpen came in and shut
the door."

Although Buehrle allowed the leadoff man to reach base in four
different innings, he induced three double plays. Buehrle also
recorded his third career hit in the seventh with a solid single
off the wall in right field.

"I think overall I've pitched pretty well and given my team a
chance to win," Buerhle said. "Coming into today out of eight
starts I've thrown pretty well in five of them. I've gone out
there and tried to give us a chance to win and that's all you
can do as a starting pitcher."

Aaron Rowand doubled to left in the bottom of the seventh. With
one out, Castillo dribbled a grounder up the third-base line
that Buehrle tried to field.

Instead, it was an infield single putting runners at the
corners. Buehrle got Ortmeier to swing and miss on a high
outside fastball.

But after a walk to pinch hitter Steve Holm to load the bases,
manager Ozzie Guillen called for Octavio Dotel, who fanned Randy
Winn getting him to swing and miss on three consecutive
pitches.

Scott Linebrink pitched a scoreless eighth and Bobby Jenks
worked the ninth for his 10th save for the White Sox, who sent
the Giants to their fourth straight loss and 11th in their last
15 to fall a season-worst 10 games below .500.

"It's funny because in all reality, according to the experts
we're actually playing better than people thought we would play,
even though we're not playing that great," Giants first
baseman Rich Aurilia said. "It's fun to try and go out and
prove people wrong.

"Go out, try and get better and have a positive attitude
everyday. You cannot do anything about what happened the day
before if you made mistakes so why dwell on it."